. supervillain .

"You didn't come back for my sake." Valentino said it bluntly, without raising his voice. "There isn't any point lying to me about it, Angel." He wasn't interested in hearing reassurances he didn't believe. Before Angel could respond, Valentino reached out and took hold of his bicep. The grip wasn't rough, but it was firm enough to guide him fully inside the bedroom before he pushed the door shut behind them with a quiet click.

"I'm going through a lot right now, okay?" He rubbed a hand over his face, already sounding exhausted by the conversation. "Not that you give a shit, but finding out I'm not only second in your eyes but Vox's too?" His jaw tightened. "Kinda fucking sucks."

The admission hung in the air for a moment before he shook his head. "I don't want to talk about it." He meant it. At least, he wanted to mean it. He took a few steps toward the bathroom before speaking again anyway. "I know I'm not fucking perfect, but who the fuck is down here?" It wasn't really a question.

Nobody in Hell was perfect. That was the whole point.

Valentino seemed dimly aware of the contradiction in insisting he didn't want to talk while continuing to vent, but he didn't acknowledge it. The words had escaped before he could stop them, and now he was done.

He had wanted to argue it so badly; wanted to fawn over Valentino until he was feeling more like himself again, but quickly realized it was time to shut up and let his boss vent rather than cutting him off or saying something that wouldn't be entirely helpful. If Val needed to get something off his chest, then he had every right to.

Angel had the fleeting idea that they needed a bar with a bartender to bitch to within Vee Tower just so they could all get shit out in the open with a neutral third party that wouldn't say anything back to them (unless it was wanted advice, of course.) Would that even work in Vee Tower, though? How long would it take before the poor sinner was dead again and having to pull himself back together?

He took a step after Valentino, hesitating before following him right up to the bathroom doorway, wanting to be close but not be in his way at the same time.

"Sorry," the spider apologized, voice soft. "Ya want any help? It's been a while since we had a spa night t'gether." But he already had an idea for how to make him feel better; no sinner had ever walked away with the same stressors after an hour of cuddling into his chest fluff, after all. He was hoping that would do the trick for him too.

"Maybe we should cuddle? When ya done, I mean. Layin' in bed, jus' the two'a us? With ya face buried in my fluff? Me strokin' your antennae an'd down the back'a your head, all nice an' slow..." The idea of cuddling was always one that Angel could get behind, no matter who it was with. It was too bad that so many sinners typically wanted to take off after the fucking was done and skip out on the good stuff.

So when Shoto mentioned his wish that Enji allow him to tag along, he was a little taken aback. Rarely did Shoto ask for anything from him. Enji was certain only recently did he seem to do it more and that still wasn't often. Usually, it was something he craved; to be fair, he still did, but with his current mindset, he was too worried about falling into old habits. Then again, he had set the rule that if Shoto asked anything of him, he would do his best to heed the request.

He clenched his jaw for a moment as he gave it a bit more thought before coming to a conclusion. "You can come along until I need to go out into the field. I don't wish to keep you from your friends, but...I could use an extra pair of hands with some of the other tasks I need to take care of before I leave." Pausing for a moment, he then added, "It will give us some time to talk if you wish to do that."

"I'm not sure," he said, stepping through the opened door to continue down the hallway toward their next destination. "I think my vents might have been cracked, but that's not a big deal. I can still use them even if they don't look perfect." Although, with them being at his back, it was a bit difficult to know whether or not something was wrong with them unless something was very wrong with them.

Thankfully, that hadn't been the case.